The Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos issued a categorical clarification addressing what it called imprecise claims circulating about hydrocarbons activity in Boyacá and Cundinamarca, confirming that the E&P Muisca contract has conducted no exploration or production activity since 2014…
Deutsche Bank’s assessment of a fast-developing El Niño episode – potentially among the six most intense since 1870 – named Colombia as Latin America’s most exposed economy, projecting the country’s price index could rise roughly 1.4 percentage points before year-end, the largest inflationary impact in the region alongside Peru’s 1.1 points.
With fewer than two weeks left in his administration, President Gustavo Petro declared a national disaster for El Niño on July 23 and routed CoP$8T through the National Disaster Risk Management Unit (UNGRD).
The incoming De la Espriella government has made enabling unconventional hydrocarbon extraction one of its most explicit energy policy commitments and the outgoing Petro government has moved to make that path as legally difficult as possible with fewer than three weeks left in office.
The Energy Institute took over production of the annual Statistical Review of World Energy which BP had produced for decades. This was, in fact, the 75th edition. We find it interesting for the tables and tables of energy data cut every which way that can produce thought-provoking graphs.
A July 4th Semana analysis by its economics desk crystallizes the three converging energy emergencies that will define the de la Espriella administration’s first weeks: El Niño, the Canacol insolvency, and Air-e’s paralysis, each serious on its own, and compounding when combined.
Ecopetrol published its formal El Niño contingency plan on July 9, revealing the most consequential near-term contribution it can make to the national electricity system: two regasification projects that together will add 360 GBTUD of gas import capacity, equivalent to approximately 35% of national gas demand which could support up to 1,000 MW of additional thermoelectric generation through the critical dry season.
Fabio Arjona Hincapié – a marine biologist, former vice-minister of Environment under Ernesto Samper, and until recently director of Conservación Internacional Colombia – was confirmed as de la Espriella’s minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development portfolio that will sit at the intersection of the new government’s hydrocarbons expansion agenda and its stated commitment to environmental protection.
Ecopetrol’s research arm, the Colombian Institute of Petroleum and Energy Transition (ICPET), has launched a new operating model built around “technology suites” dedicated to water conservation, decarbonization, and nature-based solutions, marking a significant expansion of its experimental infrastructure at the El Chircal eco-reserve in Piedecuesta, Santander.
The Petro administration has designated 1.5 million hectares of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta as a Renewable Natural Resources Reserve, barring new mining concessions and hydrocarbon exploration and production contracts across the entire area.